Never Ever Getting Back Together Analysis

The broad purpose of a music video is to visually entertain an artist’s target audience but there are also many more purposes which work in favour of the artist. First of all, music videos portray an image – in Pop videos there’s usually a lot of narrative and sometimes performance with a constant appearance from the artist while in R&B videos, a lot of the glamorous and materialistic lifestyle is shown.

Music videos also help artists develop unique identities to make them memorable and more appealing to their target audience due to what they show in the video; for instance how they dress, whether the video is conceptual, performance or narrative based and what the lyrics of their songs are actually saying. An example of an artist who conveys a lot of image using performance, narrative and concept in her videos is Lady Gaga - her image is unmistakable and her music videos are rarely similar to other artists.

In the music video ‘Never Ever Getting Back Together’ by Taylor Swift, both the artist and her band are shown along with a male actor that plays her boyfriend throughout the narrative. This is typical of what would be considered a 'Pop genre' video because a lot of the time they give an insight to the story or concept which is being told through the initial lyrics to the song first hand, in this particular video we see a literal representation of boyfriend and girlfriend and the Snow White, fairy-tale like theme that surrounds most innocent Pop narratives.
Having Taylor playing a certain character all the way through the video enables her target audience of girls around 16-18 to relate and see things more from Taylor's perspective in real life, in addition to this having the same actor playing the 'ex-boyfriend' helps them identify characters and their role in the narrative which allows the audience to refer back to Taylor Swifts actual life. This makes Taylor Swift more of an approachable artist in which her target audience can relate to more, overall making her more appealing to them as they understand the perspective of her songs.

The beginning of this video is performance based as we’re introduced to Taylor looking out of what seems to be her bedroom window when the opening instrumental kicks in and she directly sings the lyrics to the audience before the narrative in the video progresses. This gives the target audience an opportunity to get to know Taylor as an artist if they didn't already, which could be likely because even though she's already well established, this song is the first release off of her newest album 'Red'. Plus, seeing as her targeted demographic are generally teenage girls other viewers who may typically not be seen as her initial 'fans' can benefit from those first beginning seconds in the video where they 're given the opportunity take in Taylor's whole image.
The entire theme and ideology of the video is girls having a sleepover or gossiping which is how she feeds the story of the video to her audience that are viewing the music video. Once again because her target audience are teenage girls, telling the narrative this way interests them because it's up front without many 'under lying' messages that they have to look for when wanting to find the motive's for the song but at the same time maintains high energy music and entertaining visuals which work in correlation with one another. 

As the song continues Taylor then leads the audience into the next scene of the video, the editing allows this to happen by panning to the second room of her apartment. This technique occurs a lot whenever there’s a change from verse to chorus or chorus to verse which helps the pace of the video match with the music itself. This is especially effective when the backing track gets louder for the chorus and the action is up-tempo and shows the actors in the video having a party - contrasting the usual feeling on a stereo-typical Pop 'break-up' song which are usually a lot less lively. I think making the pace of the video upbeat and 'feel-good' like the lyrics and music itself appeals to Taylor's audience as it's making the best of a bad situation.
Teenage girls are  usually quite influenced by stars in the music industry and the stories they tell in their majority, so instead of feeling like they have to be upset or miserable when they encounter relationship problems or a break-up (like singers such as Adele reflects in her music), Taylor gives an alternative and new approach to a very familiar subject which is sung about in Pop songs which engages the interest in her already loyal and potential fans.

The panning for each scene in the video could represent each chapter of the relationship slowly progressing towards the end where it’s concluded that Taylor doesn't want to get back together with her boyfriend (supporting the repeated lyrics in the chorus). The idea of showing her story in chapters goes back to the initial idea of fairy-tales and the simplistic 'boy/girl' narrative which evidently has already engaged a lot of Taylor's existing fans.
Her audience get to see that Taylor’s personal view is clearly positive as oppose to sad and negative by close-up frames throughout the video which reveal her emotions since she's smiling and grinning throughout the video unless she's referring to a previous part of the relationship (i.e. the split screen of Taylor arguing with her boyfriend which could be interpreted as a flashback).

The majority of this music video is narrative based as the audience get to see certain snippets from the relationship that are being described in the song – for example the phone call, where the frame is split screened, one half being Taylor at home and the other half being her former boyfriend in a club and they appear to be arguing - a typical 'climax' scene in any break-up song narrative.
However there is some concept based ideas and metaphors too, for example when Taylor’s walking through what appears to be a forest in the season of Spring or Summer, the couple look loved up and happy which indicates the season is representing the state of the relationship - Spring traditionally being known for new beginnings (i.e. the relationship blossoming) and Summer being known for heat and sunshine (the relationship being at its best stage before Autumn arrives).
The summer/spring season doesn't last long at all and in the background of the frame a winter scene is in sight and Taylor separates from her boyfriend which could be a way of metaphorically showing that the relationship is coming to an end. Once again this indicates how the music video is playing out in a chronological effect to show the narrative which is being described in the lyrics.

This visual metaphor is quickly followed by Taylor putting herself to bed which could be yet another metaphor for the end of the relationship. During this scene of the video, the music is a lot slower along with the lyrics that are sang at a slower pace, this is emphasized by the pace of editing slowing down and the action being delivered by the characters is also less lively than the parties and dancing in the chorus showing the audience a turning point in the visual and lyrical story.

Towards the end of the video during the last few choruses there are a series of close up of Taylor's face, generally close ups help the audience get to emphasize with the artist and understand their feelings towards the journey which is taken through the music video combined with the lyrics of the song. In this case, Taylor’s expressions in the close-ups are happy and smiling which again highlights the fact that she’s positive about this break-up and isn't sad about not getting back together with her former lover reminding the audience of which perspective Taylor is coming from and perhaps showing she has the upper-hand in the break up emotionally. This isn't usually the case as stereo-typically it's usually the girls who're crying and emotional about the ending of a relationship, making the video slightly unconventional of typical Pop ideologies.
At the very ending of the video, Taylor returns to where she was originally sitting on the window ledge – this could indicate that the whole video was a flashback but instead of taking on black and white approach like flashbacks conventionally do in the genre of music videos and film, the shots are kept in colour.
This could symbolize how Taylor doesn't look back onto the past with sadness and is happy the relationship is over since she is ready to move on which could explain the reasons for her looking out of the window at the end representing her optimism for future relationships and having the freedom to move on. Once again reforming to the contrast of usual Pop 'break-up' songs which usually carry some element of sadness, however the track and music video is very conventional to the overall Pop genre as the track is bubbly and feel-good and Taylor as the artist is very present throughout the music video. 

‘Never Ever Getting Back Together’ is a typical Pop video as it has many of the genres conventions. For example Taylor is shown throughout and the story of her break-up with her former boyfriend is shown chronologically which is usually how pop videos play out when they’re showing a song in the narrative form visually. 

To conclude, Taylor Swift has the image of a very girly girl, cute country pop-star with a streak of confidence since she’s released so many songs that very obviously name and shame people who were once a part of her life – mostly ex-boyfriends. Pop videos naturally keep in tune with the artists already constructed image so that their audiences can slowly become more familiarized and if the existing image of the artist gets a good reaction from their target audience then there's no need to chance it since it's the target audience that take interest in an artist and make them become more established and well-known through buying into the material the artist releases.